Museo Accorsi-Ometto

The Accorsi-Ometto Museum in Turin presents the decorative-arts collection assembled by antique dealer Pietro Accorsi and continued by Giulio Ometto in the rooms of a historic palazzo on Via Po.

Why it matters

The museum preserves the work of Accorsi, one of Turin's leading twentieth-century antique dealers, and his collaborator and successor Ometto. Its collection foregrounds decorative arts and craftsmanship, including furniture, ceramics, paintings, crystal and tapestries.

What to notice

A signed 1738 cabinet by Pietro Piffetti is a central work in the collection. The rooms also contain Meissen and Sèvres porcelain, Baccarat crystal, silver, clocks, tapestries and paintings, arranged within the setting of a historic apartment.

Context and history

The palazzo began in 1616 as a complex of the Antonian Fathers, with a church dedicated to Sant'Antonio abate later redesigned by Bernardo Vittone. After the order's suppression, Francesco Valeriano Dellala converted the property into barracks for the King's Bodyguards in 1778–1780. Pietro Accorsi bought the building in 1956 and used the piano nobile as his home and showroom. He left his collection for a museum, which opened in 1999; Ometto later added his own collection.